Pelleas Et Melisande is an opera I appreciate more every time I hear it. The story is not consistently involving, though the opening forest and tower scenes are wonderful scenes, but the atmosphere when done right really draws you in and Debussy's music is even more haunting, more beautiful, more dream-like and more emotional than his songs.
Of the Pelleas Et Melisande productions on DVD personal favourite is the brilliant performance conducted by Pierre Boulez with this 2004 Zurich production faring least. It's not unwatchable, thanks to it being fantastic musically. The orchestral playing matches the quality of Debussy's music, it shimmers with beauty while dripped with haunting atmosphere, none of it sounds emotionally cold and there is a poetic dream-like quality to it, every phrase flowing into the next seamlessly. Franz Welser-Most conducts with real sensitivity and authority, none of the power of the music is lost because he allows it to breathe but he never brings the production to a screeching halt either. The singing is uniformly good. Rodney Gilfry is wonderful as Pelleas, possessing a rich and flexible voice and he makes for a very sincere actor with real connection to the words(his French is not the most idiomatic in the world but that can be forgiven). Isabel Rey's voice is more mature than most Melisandes but it's still a beautiful sound with dramatic command aplenty, and like Gilfry she's a very good actress and interpreter. Laszlo Polgar's Arkel is nobly sung and poignantly acted, Cornelia Kalisch does just fine as Genevieve and Eve Liebau makes Ynoild's challenging music not seem so(she didn't seem too embarrassed by that disgrace of a wig she was made to wear).
Was mixed on Michael Volle, a performer whose performances I've often enjoyed, as Golaud. Vocally he is right on-point, it is a very warm and powerful voice with some nice dark colour, and his musicianship- with the various dynamics, the phrasing all done with lovely legato singing and intense diction and word-painting- is first-class too. Dramatically he is imposing and does evoke some menace but Sven-Eric Bechtolf's stage direction once again(he also made Volle characterise Count Almaviva as a comical slapstick buffoon in 2009's Le Nozze Di Figaro) goes against him, Golaud is like the "villain" of the opera, but one driven by jealousy rather than being evil-incarnate, but Bechtolf takes that to extremes making him at times lecherous and overly violent(see how he treats "Ynoild"), something that Volle did not always look very comfortable doing. Volle actually is a gifted actor but Bechtolf only manages to cheapen his acting skills.
It's the visuals and especially the staging that really bring down the production to a significant degree. The sets are drab in colour and very ugly to look at generally even with the snow, and throughout it isn't very clear as to where the production is meant to be set. The costumes are a little better but also a little colourless and seldom flattering, Melisande just about gets by but you would be hard-pressed to find a weirder-looking Golaud. Bechtolf has always been a controversial director and has been known for some weird touches, like his staging for Act 3 of 2004's Der Rosenkavalier but it's in this production where Bechtolf's stage directing is at its most bizarre. It was clear what the eternal winter was meant to signify but the significance of the wheelchairs and especially the mannequins was one huge question mark, their inclusion was just cheap and the staging itself was never compelling, apart from the opening forest scene thanks to the musical values. Instead Bechtolf's stage direction leaves the audience stone cold and completely disconnected from the story, and instead of being dreamy, out-worldly and sensual it's obtusely absurd and incoherent. From how the characters behave, it's very statically remote and does nothing to make chemistry and characterisation interesting.
All in all, fine musically but visually ugly and uncomfortably bizarre. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Of the Pelleas Et Melisande productions on DVD personal favourite is the brilliant performance conducted by Pierre Boulez with this 2004 Zurich production faring least. It's not unwatchable, thanks to it being fantastic musically. The orchestral playing matches the quality of Debussy's music, it shimmers with beauty while dripped with haunting atmosphere, none of it sounds emotionally cold and there is a poetic dream-like quality to it, every phrase flowing into the next seamlessly. Franz Welser-Most conducts with real sensitivity and authority, none of the power of the music is lost because he allows it to breathe but he never brings the production to a screeching halt either. The singing is uniformly good. Rodney Gilfry is wonderful as Pelleas, possessing a rich and flexible voice and he makes for a very sincere actor with real connection to the words(his French is not the most idiomatic in the world but that can be forgiven). Isabel Rey's voice is more mature than most Melisandes but it's still a beautiful sound with dramatic command aplenty, and like Gilfry she's a very good actress and interpreter. Laszlo Polgar's Arkel is nobly sung and poignantly acted, Cornelia Kalisch does just fine as Genevieve and Eve Liebau makes Ynoild's challenging music not seem so(she didn't seem too embarrassed by that disgrace of a wig she was made to wear).
Was mixed on Michael Volle, a performer whose performances I've often enjoyed, as Golaud. Vocally he is right on-point, it is a very warm and powerful voice with some nice dark colour, and his musicianship- with the various dynamics, the phrasing all done with lovely legato singing and intense diction and word-painting- is first-class too. Dramatically he is imposing and does evoke some menace but Sven-Eric Bechtolf's stage direction once again(he also made Volle characterise Count Almaviva as a comical slapstick buffoon in 2009's Le Nozze Di Figaro) goes against him, Golaud is like the "villain" of the opera, but one driven by jealousy rather than being evil-incarnate, but Bechtolf takes that to extremes making him at times lecherous and overly violent(see how he treats "Ynoild"), something that Volle did not always look very comfortable doing. Volle actually is a gifted actor but Bechtolf only manages to cheapen his acting skills.
It's the visuals and especially the staging that really bring down the production to a significant degree. The sets are drab in colour and very ugly to look at generally even with the snow, and throughout it isn't very clear as to where the production is meant to be set. The costumes are a little better but also a little colourless and seldom flattering, Melisande just about gets by but you would be hard-pressed to find a weirder-looking Golaud. Bechtolf has always been a controversial director and has been known for some weird touches, like his staging for Act 3 of 2004's Der Rosenkavalier but it's in this production where Bechtolf's stage directing is at its most bizarre. It was clear what the eternal winter was meant to signify but the significance of the wheelchairs and especially the mannequins was one huge question mark, their inclusion was just cheap and the staging itself was never compelling, apart from the opening forest scene thanks to the musical values. Instead Bechtolf's stage direction leaves the audience stone cold and completely disconnected from the story, and instead of being dreamy, out-worldly and sensual it's obtusely absurd and incoherent. From how the characters behave, it's very statically remote and does nothing to make chemistry and characterisation interesting.
All in all, fine musically but visually ugly and uncomfortably bizarre. 5/10 Bethany Cox
